James Monroe

Thursday

Mar 16, 2017 at 10:56 AM

Background/Early Life• James Monroe was born in Virginia in 1758 and grew up with the colonies on their way to war with Great Britain.• Monroe attended the College of William and Mary but by the end of 1776 he joined the Continental Army. He suffered an almost-fatal wound to his shoulder in the Battle of Trenton and though he stopped fighting after that, he remained a part of the military until the end of the war.• Thomas Jefferson became a mentor for Monroe as he studied law after the war, and Monroe was elected to the Virginia Assembly in 1782. He served on the Council of State, was elected to the Continental Congress and served in the United States Senate.• Aside from a short stint as governor of Virginia, a lot of Monroe’s political activity under the government set up by the Constitution was done overseas. He was appointed to be the U.S. minister to France by George Washington, then when Jefferson was president Monroe was sent to France to help negotiate the Louisiana Purchase. He was also a U.S. minister to Britain and did work in Spain.• Monroe was secretary of state for James Madison and served some of the time as secretary of war during the War of 1812, and his leadership in these positions set him up to be elected president in 1816. How he defined the office• Called “The Era of Good Feelings,” Monroe’s presidency featured two historic policies that helped shape America’s future — the Monroe Doctrine and the Missouri Compromise — and the Cabinet he assembled is viewed as one of the strongest in American history.Successes and failures• The United States acquired Florida during Monroe’s presidency, and with new states being added to the union Congress reached the Missouri Compromise, which drew a dividing line at 36 degrees, 30 minutes latitude — western territories added as states north of that line would be admitted as free states and south would be added as slave states.• In 1823 President Monroe issued what came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine. It stated that the United States would not accept European interference in the western hemisphere, essentially saying the U.S. would protect Latin America. Monroe’s was the first such policy statement about the area by the United States. notable quote• “The best form of government is that which is most likely to prevent the greatest sum of evil.”